Interlude 1: Darkseeker - Part 2

General Summary

Previous Chapter

13th day of Pitch, the 13th month, of the year 1028, one day before the solstice - Interplanar Space - Abord the Spelljammer Gilded Pike

Music
A group of seasoned adventurers fly at great speed away from their successful heist of five of the Relics of Antiquity from the Artifactuary in the lower ring of the city of the gods, and toward a confrontation with Ansell, Seeker of the Void, a mad mage seemingly hell bent of the destruction of divinity and the sundering of the mortal plane.

The Crew:

• Sazed (SAY-zed), Keeper of the Chronicles - Aasimar Elements Monk - On-board Captain/Chaplain - he/him
• Garnetta - Goliath World Tree Barbarian - Security Officer - she/her
• Brnadong - Muppetborn Glamour Bard - Communications Officer- they/them
• Solarius "Starcaller" Luminel - Aasimar Eloquence Bard - Navigator - he/him
• Zephyr Darksong - Aasimar Eloquence Bard - Shipwrite - he/him

The party is standing on the deck of the Shrike classSpelljammer, Gilded Pike, as it speeds out from under the shadow of the Celestial City and off into the cloudy blue expanse before entire ship shimmers and shakes as it orients itself at a right angle to this reality and plunges through the fabric of space-time into the Astral Plane.
With the open, sea-ship style deck, the party has an unobstructed view of the swirling colors and lights of the sea between worlds overhead, only broken by the raised fore and aft sections of the ship, and the 3 ballistas spread along the Gilded Pike's centerline.
During this part, the party can attune to their relics and take a long rest. Elle reiterates that they need to be bonded to the Lost Antiquity or else their attacks will be ineffective against Ansell or his forces. They have about 10 hours of travel before they'll be aligned with the Abyssal Plane, so they should arrive at Ansell's stronghold on the solstice, just in time to stop his plans.
(Player action and discussion)

Attuning to thr Relics

• Sazed
• Garnetta
• Brnadong (notably fails 7 times and must be healed and inspired)
• Solarius
• Zephyr

DM Notes: Elle can answer questions with the following infprmation:

• How do you know all this? We've got a lot of connections to good spies and magic, and we've burned through a lot of gold to keep tabs of guys like Ansell- more often than not, they're just gifted wizards with a chip on their shoulder and some grudge against the gods. Usually they just aspire to litchdom, but every once in a while, one aims a little higher and tries to become a god or kill one.
• Why save the gods? Thousands of years ago, there was the era where the old gods had died, but the new gods had yet to emerge. Little is known of this time, but it is said that magic and life forces were in a constant decline, and many civilizations died out as natural magics dwindled, brith rates plumetted, and crops began to fail year after year. It was only when the current pantheon took stewardship the world that magic and life began to flow again in abundance, or so the legends go. I'd don't know how true those legends are, but if Ansell's going to raze the material plane on his way to strike down the gods, then it might not matter either way.
• Why don't the gods handle this? The gods either do not see Ansell's threat, or do not want to see it. Our best clerics have prayed to the gods for intervention, but Ansell hides his preparations in the Realm of Shadow to obscure even the Watcher's vision. That is why salvation falls to us- to you.
• Why hide the mission? The gods would take our meddling in affairs they deemed insignificant as an affront. We couldn't risk word of this plan getting to them, and they have a habit of checking in on high tier adventurers, such as yourselves. Also, they definitely won't like the whole burglary thing.
• Why me/us? You were chosen for your skills and past exploits. It's our belief that together, you five possess the requisite abilities and battle prowess to stop Ansell from savaging all of creation.
• Why not hire an army? Apart from the impossible cost of supplying a force that large, we needed to keep the nature of this mission a secret. A bigger circle introduces more possible points of failure. Plus, historically for situations like this, quality far outproduces quantity.
• Who are you/youre family? My family and I would prefer to remain anonymous. I can tell you that we're tied to the line of House Sims, but nothing more. We don't need any glory for saving the day, or any backlash for defying the gods. We just want to help keep this world intact. Obviously you know my face and given name, but we've taken steps to obscure ourselves from further identifying.
• What's with this ship? This spelljammer was recovered from a crash site on a small island out in the North Sea, near the Lon'Gi Mist wall. It's been repaired and refurbished as best we can to aide you on this mission. I'm a bit jealous, honestly. I'd love to go off exploring in that thing in person.
• What happened to the old gods? We don't really know. That was so long ago that its even passed from the living memory of the highest tier of elven druids, the longest lived mortal beings in existance. Whatever it was, it wiped the old gods out so badly that even the memory of their identities was erased. Minor gods are killed and brought back more often than their faiths or cults would like to admit. Even if the church is wiped out, history says that one new mortal finding an old pamflet is enough to reignite a god's spark, but there's not enough distinct information to even propperly acknowledge the old gods, and without knowledge and faith, a dead god can never revive.

No one asks Elle any questions...
When ready, the party heads down to the lower deck to their bunks to rest up for the fight ahead.

Assault of the Shadow Plane

Music
The party is roused awoken at the end of their long rest by the shaking of planar shift and the chime of a call coming in on the bridge.
Darkness outside portholes replaces the gentle glow of Astral Plane. Outside, there is only a pitch black sky above a vast, mostly flat landscape dimly lit by no sun, the ground consisting of gray, black, and purple stone, with veins of white, sandy streaks like pathways that sometimes snake into the air, elevated on floating stones like naturally forming bridges. There are chasms and cliffs in abundance, with seas of dark indigo water on the horizon, calm and placid on the surface, but impossibly deep.
Occasional dim purple lights twinkle in the distance, but always blink out as the ship draws near to hide their exact location among the craigs and crevasses.
On the bridge, Elle calls again to brief you on your approach, ship defenses, and the final stage of the plan. She can aim one ballista at a time while flying, but can't load or fire them from the helm, so needs one person to load them, and another to shoot. If you wish to conserve your ranged options at any point, the ballistae have ample ammunition.
Elle's plan is to use the ship to get the attention of the army, especially its fliers, and keep them occupied so they won't focuss on the party's infiltration. We want them standing at the ready outside, not flooding into Ansell's keep behind you. Any questions?
(Party discussion)
Ansell's castle comes into view, looks like an enormous stalagmite, with a singular central tower thats topped in 2 peaks, with a space in the middle like a tuning fork.
As the Gilded Pike approaches the army of demons, it blasts through a couple of scouts as it passes, drawing the attention of some others (1d4+2) that were keeping a radius. Three cling to the deck, getting caught in the ship's gravity field, and must be cleared before the Gilded Pike gets to the castle or the infiltration will be ruined.

With the deck cleared, the ship swoops down through the ranks on the ground in front of the castle, blasting demons out of the way and even dashing a few to pieces, before swinging up and back around to slide to a stop infront of the large double doors, letting or lanching the party off while blocking the army's view of the entrance.
DC 16 check (any justifiable kind) to land and slip in the doors before the ship needs to fly away to keep ahead of the demonic persuers.
The party easily disembark with flare and make it through the doors to the Entrance Hall.
DM Note: Cut music until new fight starts
The Entrance Hall is large but with little visibility as magical darkness descends from the chandelier above to shroud the room. Before moving any further inward, the party use various light spells to illuminate the shadow, revealing several of Ansell's modified demons waiting in ambush to fight in the as a last defense to Ansell's twisted Abyssal tower:
(Stat blocks curtesy KH Enemy Compendium) music
2 Large Bodies

4 Sergeants

And 1 Wizard

Vicotrious in their fight with Ansell's last line of guards, the party rushes up the stairs of the tower, igoring the other hallways and doors.
(Perception check, DC 19) Almost to the top of the tower's spiralling staircase, you notice the hidden door which wasn't on the map Elle showed the party. You can hear noises coming from 1 floor above, where you know Ansell to be working in his private laboratory.
If checked, the door is locked, but not trapped. Behind that door is a hulking, Gargantuan shape hard to make out in the magical darkness of the room.
Through the use of one of the light spells from below, the party see the form of a Dracolitch, sleeping beyond. Not wanting to wake it, they close the door and move onward.
Music Change
At top of stairs, behind a simple wooden door left ajar, is a round lab with beakers and strange machinery on a miriad of desks and tables. To one side is a large window, beyond which, you can see the demon army, still in chaos as the Gilded Pike continues to dip and divebomb their ranks, persued by a cloud of winged horrors.
Directly opposite the door stands a lone man, the Seeker of the Void, Ansell.
He is suprisingly well built, for a mage. His clearly once-white labcoat has been stained grey and black on the arms and upper torso, only maintaining the golden accents on the cuffing around the sleeves and at the base. Beneath the coat he wears a similarly stained white shirt, and simple black pants and boots.
He glances over his shoulder at you as the party reaches the landing at the top of the stairs, and you can see that he has fair, nearly pale skin with messy brown hair that frames his face, while the rest is pulled back into a wild ponytail that reaches down to his shoulders. His eyes are a deep gold color.
Ansell: Please, enter.
As the party enters, he is holding 2 beakers of bubbling liquid, one in each hand, with his back to the door. Out of his left side, a black ooze passes through his clothes to form a third arm under his natural one. This arm, significantly more muscled and with a longer reach, grasps a flask of a similar unknown liquid and brings it up to his face to inspect.
If given the chance, he will talk a bit about:

• how the gods are a scurge on the mortal world
• how they came as monsters to torment, and only became "stewards" on a whim
• and how his modified and artificial demons can cleanse the world so it can be remade anew in his image.

When the party agresses to start the fight, Ansell will Guardian Shield, then flip a large switch on the wall, starting the 10 round countdown to the DTD Drill
Ansell fight Stage 1 (Ansell fights in his lab)
Battle Quotes (at the start of each of his turns)

• A meaningless effort.
• Such confidence!
• I know all that there is to know.
• What do you hope to accomplish?
• You are most disappointing.
• You understand so little
• Submit!
• Surrender to the void!
• Behold the endless abyss!
• I see the path has emerged at last.

When his health is depleted, Ansell, on his last legs drops through a trap door into the space below, then there's a big boom as the dragonship dursts through the wall and flies out.
Music Change!
Stage 2 (Ansell uses the previous stat block again, regaining all of his Hit Points, but not his expended spells, and now on the back of his gross, fleshy yet skeletal, demon mount, a Spelljammer constructed from the remains of an Abyssal Dragon (with whom he shares a health pool)
Battle Quotes:

• Continue from first list

3 Bit Snipers also line each side of the deck (6 total)

Music for after the fight
(If PCs survive, Elle congratulates them but notes that the DTD Drill needs is a spell her people had theorized about and have been analysing during the fight, and while they have reverse engineered the ritual to close it, it requires people on both sides.
Whoever stays behind can get on the ship.
Sazed, Zephyr, and Solarius stay behind to close the door in the Abyssal Plane while Brn, Garnetta, and an angelic being that Brn summoned go through to the material plan to close the door there.
As the door closes infront of them, Sazed, Zephyr, and Brn all turn to see the army of demons, nolonger distracted, closing in on them while the Gilded Pike, high above, speeds off into the lightless sky before winking out of the Realm of Abyss.
Hours later, when the ship arrives back in the Material Plane to pick-up Brn and Garnetta, Elle says that she has already dropped the rest off and asks them to come meet her master, the king of Kwilterra, a man colloquially known as the Phantom King.
If the PCs all die, Elle will crash the ship into Ansell and have an assistant upcast a fireball through the Telemet to detonate the mage, just barely finishing the job that the brave crew of the Gilded Pike started. The Demon invasion is devestating, but without Ansell's bolstering or direction, the mortal world is able to hold the demon invasion off until the Solstice ends and the portal eventually closes)

---

Unspoken Epilogues

Sazed, Keeper of the Chronicles - Aasimar Elements Monk

His first instinct is to hold his ground, fight, but where the demon army lacks individual stength, they make up for it in numbers. Realizing this, he decides to flee. Having lost track of Zephyr, he joins Solarius and together, the two make their escape from the leaderless demon forces. Neither possess the means to escape the Abyssal plane on their own power, but Sazed has collected much knowledge in his 102 years, and he knows that there exists in every realm a means to traverse between them.
Unable to speak Abyssal to the locals, they are not trusted in the various demon settlements they pass on their treck. It takes 8 long years in the darkness, but eventually they pick up enough of the language and find the right sources to locate a portal that should lead to the Astral Sea. With only each other for rubust conversation, their differing views on Ansell's motives caused a number of arguments, and the toll of the eternal darkness of the Abyss did only damage to their mental states. Eventually, their differences led to a conflict that later came to blows. A sneak attack from Solarius caught Sazed off-guard while he slept, mere days away from the suspected portal location. The Dawn Wing cloak kept him safe from being chained down, but though his elemental strikes had great range, Solarius' magic and greater pool of healing potions prevailed. 

Solarius "Starcaller" Luminel - Aasimar Eloquence Bard

Solarius, stranded in the Abyss without a Spelljammer or even shelter from the encroaching army, quickly decides to run. He does not wish to abandon his allies, but Zephyr is gone in an instant and Sazed is not enough to defeat this army, especially not after the battle they just faced. Moments later, Sazed comes to his senses and swoops in using his relic to fly them both to safety. Solarious has no means, magical or otherwise to leave this plane, but thankfully, Sazed knows of some portal that can at least get them to the Astral Sea, if not back to the Prime Material. Unfortunately, he does not know its whereabouts, and niether of them speak Abyssal to ask directions.
It is 8 years before they finally have enough of the language, and have talked or "persuaded" the right demons to get the location of Sazed's portal, and all the while Solarius has had to put up with their differing morals and beliefs causing arguments and disagreements, as neither have anyone else to talk to. Their mental health is also degraded by the constant darkness of the Abyss. Ultimately, in a moment of true mental fatigue, and mere days away from their destination, he decides to do away with his companion, striking while trusted to guard the sleeping monk.
after the fierce combat, weak and near death himself, Solarius takes what items he can from Sazed, including the Dawn Wing. Still attuned to the Chaos Ripper blades, and defying the long forgotten warnings of Elle, he dons the cloak. The mixture of orphaned divine magics swell within Solarius. The rage of the forgotten Warrior and the joy of the forgotten Liberator combine into an unhinged passion for violence. All must be free to seek violence. To live is to seek fun, and the truest fun is the thrill of a good fight.
Solarius Luminel is gone. 
The Starcaller travels the rest of the way to the portal and becomes known throughout the planar system as an entity embodying the Fighting Spirit.

Zephyr Darksong - Aasimar Eloquence Bard

Zephyr's first instincts to hide or run, and having nowhere to hide, he uses his psychic blades transportation to teleport away from the, now aimless demon army, sacrificing his short-time party members. With no way to leave the Abyssal Plane, he seeks refuge among the demon population, but not speaking abyssal at first, and with his lawful nature, he connot integrate into their society. He manages to survive on the finges of settlements for 6 long years before passing at the age of 53, in the year 1034, when a demon lord's passing army mistakes him for an infiltrator from the Celestial Plane sent to spy on their movements Zephyr fought well, and in the end, managed to deal a substantial blow to that army's forces. The Kuro Kabuto is later looted and passes from hand to ichor stained hand until falling into possession of the demon lord, Graz'zt, The Dark Prince, who uses it as a boon to his dark forces in their Blood War against the Hells, as well as inter-abyssal squables for power.

Garnetta of Citryne - Goliath World Tree Barbarian

Willing to make a pact with the Phantom King to save her life, but unwilling to do wrong in his name or for the promise of power, Garnetta kept her stolen Laviathan Axe and decided to make the best of her situation and devoted herself to being as righteous as possible on the winning side. Aged 40 at time of her pact, Garnetta does not ascend to become one of the Phantom King's generals, but does maintain a high rank in his personal garrison and serves as one of the final walls adventurers face on their way to fall by the king's hand. Aged 65 by the year 1053, she is not immortal but is still strong due to her pact with the king.

Brnadong - Muppetborn Glamour Bard

Unsure of the nature of pacts, but unwilling to do wrong for the promise of power, Brnadong fights bravely against the Phantom King's forces, using the power of the Saccarine Mercy to stave of death long enough to see the futility of the fight, especially with his remaining ally siding with the crown, and the rest nowhere to be seen. He feigns fealty for 9 long months before being sent on a mission, whereupon his good nature leads him to betray his mission partner and side with the "rebelling forces" they were sent to supress, using the the healing power of his relic to bolster them until it is retrieved by angelic enforcement, who was eventually alerted by the thankful prayer of his rescuees. The staff is returned to its secure holding in the Celestial Plane and he is pardonned of the thelft for his good works after. He lives another 17 years, a fugitive from the Phantom King's forces, until eventually getting caught in 1046, at the age of 37 (just past middle-aged for his race), whereupon he is brought to the Phantom King and is never seen again. 
He is remembered fondly by the people of Poyo Village.

Report Date

23 Mar 2025